How far we have fallen.... Recalling JFK's "City Upon A Hill" Speech JAN 9th, 1961

We as a nation have allowed people who are highly unqualified to take control of our governments on the Federal, State and Local levels.  The people who are in charge are a mere shadow of those who were elected in the past..... Think about people like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, IKE and JFK....Compare them to the faux leaders who are in our halls of government now....

There is no comparison.  We do not have the quality leaders we need. There is no comparison and we need better leaders now more than ever.


Take a listen to the enclosed link and read the words that JFK spoke just before he was to be inaugurated.  This speech sums up in 8 minutes what we need from our leaders.  You don't have to agree with JFK's political views but you can't argue with his principles of what we should be getting from our leaders on all levels of the government we elect and who should serve the people, not the other way around.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/OYhUZE2Qo0-ogdV7ok900A.aspx

City Upon A Hill
President Elect John F. Kennedy
Massachusetts General Court,
January 9, 1961


I have welcomed this opportunity to address this historic body, and, through you, the people of Massachusetts to whom I am so deeply indebted for a lifetime of friendship and trust.

For fourteen years I have placed my confidence in the citizens of Massachusetts--and they have generously responded by placing their confidence in me.
 
Now, on the Friday after next, I am to assume new and broader responsibilities. But I am not here to bid farewell to Massachusetts.

For forty-three years--whether I was in London, Washington, the South Pacific, or elsewhere--this has been my home; and, God willing, wherever I serve this shall remain my home

It was here my grandparents were born--it is here I hope my grandchildren will be born.

I speak neither from false provincial pride nor artful political flattery. For no man about to enter high office in this country can ever be unmindful of the contribution this state has made to our national greatness.

Its leaders have shaped our destiny long before the great republic was born. Its principles have guided our footsteps in times of crisis as well as in times of calm. Its democratic institutions--including this historic body--have served as beacon lights for other nations as well as our sister states.

For what Pericles said to the Athenians has long been true of this commonwealth: "We do not imitate--for we are a model to others."
 
And so it is that I carry with me from this state to that high and lonely office to which I now succeed more than fond memories of firm friendships. The enduring qualities of Massachusetts--the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant--will not be and could not be forgotten in this nation's executive mansion.

They are an indelible part of my life, my convictions, my view of the past, and my hopes for the future.

Allow me to illustrate: During the last sixty days, I have been at the task of constructing an administration. It has been a long and deliberate process. Some have counseled greater speed. Others have counseled more expedient tests.
 
But I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier.

"We must always consider," he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill--the eyes of all people are upon us."
 
Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us--and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill--constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.

For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arabella in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within.

History will not judge our endeavors--and a government cannot be selected--merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these.

For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us--recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state--our success or failure, in whatever office we may hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:

First, were we truly men of courage--with the courage to stand up to one's enemies--and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one's associates--the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed

Secondly, were we truly men of judgment--with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past--of our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others--with enough wisdom to know that we did not know, and enough candor to admit it?
 
Third, were we truly men of integrity--men who never ran out on either the principles in which they believed or the people who believed in them--men who believed in us--men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?

Finally, were we truly men of dedication--with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest.

Courage--judgment--integrity--dedication--these are the historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State--the qualities which this state has consistently sent to this chamber on Beacon Hill here in Boston and to Capitol Hill back in Washington.

And these are the qualities which, with God's help, this son of Massachusetts hopes will characterize our government's conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead.

Humbly I ask His help in that undertaking--but aware that on earth His will is worked by men. I ask for your help and your prayers, as I embark on this new and solemn journey.

THE DIFFERENCE......JFK made a difference

This is the difference. READ the enclosed words from THE PRESIDENT, circa April 1962. SEE the difference in what a PRESIDENT should do compared with the light-weight we have now. John F. Kennedy took the message right to the people in a way that laid it out for all to see.

I am not pro-union, and I am not anti-business but the way the Steel Crisis played out, a small group of Steel Executives made decisions that would hurt the rest of America and JFK called them out on it. Today, we have groups of executives doing the same thing in multiple fields and no one is taking them on. They have the government in their pocket.

I support those who look out for the best interest of the country and see that any group, union or executives who believe they can do whatever they want without care for how it effects the citizens of this country needs to be called out.

Too bad we can only look to history to see the example for what a PRESIDENT should do, instead of being able to see one in the White House who can do so today.


Transcript
Official White House Transcript

Presidential News Conference #30, April 11, 1962
State Department Auditorium, Washington, D.C.
Date: April 11, 1962

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. I have several announcements to make.

Simultaneous and identical actions of United States Steel and other leading steel corporations, increasing steel prices by some 6 dollars a ton, constitute a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest.

In this serious hour in our nation's history, when we are confronted with grave crises in Berlin and Southeast Asia, when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking Reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end, and servicemen to risk their lives -- and four were killed in the last two days in Viet Nam -- and asking union members to hold down their wage requests, at a time when restraint and sacrifice are being asked of every citizen, the American people will find it hard, as I do, to accept a situation in which a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of private power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility can show such utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.

If this rise in the cost of steel is imitated by the rest of the industry, instead of rescinded, it would increase the cost of homes, autos, appliances, and most other items for every American family. It would increase the cost of machinery and tools to every American businessman and farmer. It would seriously handicap our efforts to prevent an inflationary spiral from eating up the pensions of our older citizens, and our new gains in purchasing power.

It would add, Secretary McNamara informed me this morning, an estimated one billion dollars to the cost of our defenses, at a time when every dollar is needed for national security and other purposes. It would make it more difficult for American goods to compete in foreign markets, more difficult to withstand competition from foreign imports, and thus more difficult to improve our balance of payments position, and stem the flow of gold. And it is necessary to stem it for our national security, if we are going to pay for our security commitments abroad. And it would surely handicap our efforts to induce other industries and unions to adopt responsible price and wage policies.

The facts of the matter are that there is no justification for an increase in the steel prices. The recent settlement between the industry and the union, which does not even take place until July 1st, was widely acknowledged to be non-inflationary, and the whole purpose and effect of this Administration's role, which both parties understood, was to achieve an agreement which would make unnecessary any increase in prices.

Steel output per man is rising so fast that labor costs per ton of steel can actually be expected to decline in the next twelve months. And in fact, the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics informed me this morning that, and I quote: "Employment costs per unit of steel output in 1961 were essentially the same as they were in 1958. "

The cost of major raw materials, steel scrap and coal, has also been declining, and for an industry which has been generally operating at less than two-thirds of capacity, its profit rate has been normal and can be expected to rise sharply this year in view of the reduction in idle capacity. Their lot has been easier than that of a hundred thousand steel workers thrown out of work in the last three years. The industry's cash dividends have exceeded 600 million dollars in each of the last five years, and earnings in the first quarter of this year were estimated in the February 28th Wall Street Journal to be among the highest in history.

In short, at a time when they could be exploring how more efficiency and better prices could be obtained, reducing prices in this industry in recognition of lower costs, their unusually good labor contract, their foreign competition and their increase in production and profits which are coming this year, a few gigantic corporations have decided to increase prices in ruthless disregard of their public responsibilities....

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are examining the significance of this action in a free, competitive economy.

The Department of Defense and other agencies are reviewing its impact on their policies of procurement, and I am informed that steps are underway by those Members of the Congress who plan appropriate inquiries into how these price decisions are so quickly made, and reached, and what legislative safeguards may be needed to protect the public interest.

Price and wage decisions in this country, except for very limited restrictions in the case of monopolies and national emergency strikes, are and ought to be freely and privately made, but the American people have a right to expect in return for that freedom, a higher sense of business responsibility for the welfare of their country than has been shown in the last two days.

Some time ago I asked each American to consider what he would do for his country and I asked the steel companies. In the last 24 hours we had their answer."

The Politics of Race....Our Country needs to move on to solving the larger issues

I find the politicizing of race very disturbing....I have found that you have to take people one at a time. The people I met from all around the world while working overseas demonstrated to me that it doesn't matter where you are from, what gender you are or what nationality you proclaim, there are good people all over our small & beautiful planet......

The other side of that coin is that being a knucklehead is NOT exclusively assigned to any one race, gender or nationality either.....plenty of meat-heads out there of all shapes & sizes in many nations.... Read a sample of what is being passed off as "fact" by those who profit off the continuing discourse between ethnic groups:

The Village Voice is running a piece titled, "White America Has Lost Its Mind
- The white brain, beset with worries, finally goes haywire in spectacular fashion"

This has got to be some of the most racist crap ever allowed to be printed by a large news organization.....If you had written something similar about any other group than white America (pick a color), you would be hung out to dry in a NY heartbeat. But because we are taking a potshot at the majority of Americans, it's OK to print this tripe.

From the AFL-CIO NOW Blog:

"AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka points out that the America the Republicans envision doesn’t look like the real America, with barely 2 percent of the images in the “Pledge to America” document depicting people of color. In the real America, the Census Bureau reported people of color made up 34 percent of the population last year."

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/10/08/republican-pledge-would-make-life-worse-for-people-of-color/

Turns out the "facts" that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka cites is false - The US Cencus Bureau states are that 74.3% of Americans are "white", with the remainder (25.7%) of other ethnic groups. His Union profits from stirring up racial politics to keep his members in lock-step and under his control.

The point I am making is that the use of RACE by anyone in politics is deplorable. Those who continue to use their status as minority can be and are also as guilty of racism as much as though who hold views that minorities should not be allowed to participate.

Gov. George Wallace of Alabama was a racist - Rev. Al Sharpton is also a racist. Both have committed deplorable acts that have no part in American Politics. Until we can make sure that racists on both side of the equation, along with anyone (regardless of race or gender) who uses race as a means of profit are discredited and universally condemned, we will be dragged down by these cretins.

I have spent years defending our country in uniform and we are a argumentative bunch....No one group holds the title of "virtuous" and no one group can be blamed for all the ills of society.

Last week there was another large gathering on the mall at Washington, mainly run by the Liberal Groups, those who support illegal immigration and featured a speech by Al Sharpton. The people who organized this gathering have a large investment in keeping race issues stirred up, as it provides them with a very lucrative living by making sure Sharpton, et al are always there to speak against the "alleged" racial bias that occurred (Any one remember Tiwanna Brawley and how Al Sharpton was up to his armpits in perpetuating the lies that were told??)

I feel that anyone who sets his mind to make something of himself will do well - blaming race & gender for your shortcomings is pointless. The number of successful minorities in all areas of our country & world shows that it is not about race or gender but the individual who is willing to make the extra effort.

If you look at the number of successful people of all races who made something of themselves by focusing on doing the best at what they liked to do, then the crap the Al Sharptons of the world put out becomes laughable....he is a shyster, a charlatan....his words are meaningless.

My views on the way things should be fall back on the great words of JFK & Martin Luther King, as they set the standard with their insightful ability to move past the issues of race & gender:

President Kennedy - " We are confronted primarily with a moral issue,' he said. 'It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities … One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free … Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise … The fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, North and South, where legal remedies are not at hand … A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all … Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law." - June 11th 1963

Martin Luther King - " I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character... "

While I do not agree with all the views of MLK, this is one he got right. I agree wholly with President Kennedy as his words speak truth.

Criticism of our present President is NOT RACISM....He is the President, and his political views are his....I criticize his view of how things should be, as he doesn't represent the majority of American's points of view on where our country should be heading. Solely based on his merits as a Leader, I rate him as a failure. His race has nothing to do with it and I would criticize anyone else who shares his views, like Pelosi, Reed and Napolitano....they are all equally wrong regardless of their race or gender.

Suffice to say as long as the press props up the politics of race baiting, we will have issues. It needs to stop as we are a better people and a better country. There are bigger issues that need out attention and to allow the leaders of either party to focus on Race when we have much larger problems to solve is regrettable. We are all Americans and we can be better.

Wikileaks / The President & the Press...Lessons from History

A decent write up in the NYT regarding the issue surounding Wikileaks and what needs to be done. The Author has knowledge of the AOR having served on two tours there with the USArmy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01lafortune.html?pagewanted=2

History teaches us that almost 50 years ago, President Kennedy knew of the danger of National Security info being broadcast out to the world without thought or care for the consequences. He deplored secrecy but understood the need for control over information when it came to National Security. His remarks are a stark reminder that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

President Kennedy's address speaks volumes, even to this day;

" I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future--for reducing this threat or living with it--there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security--a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity...

This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President--two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for a far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.

" I have selected as the title of my remarks tonight "The President and the Press." Some may suggest that this would be more naturally worded "The President Versus the Press." But those are not my sentiments tonight....

But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.

Today no war has been declared--and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.

If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.

I have no intention of establishing a new Office of War Information to govern the flow of news. I am not suggesting any new forms of censorship or any new types of security classifications. I have no easy answer to the dilemma that I have posed, and would not seek to impose it if I had one. But I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country to reexamine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the present danger, and to heed the duty of self-restraint which that danger imposes upon us all.

Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: "Is it news?" All I suggest is that you add the question: "Is it in the interest of the national security?" And I hope that every group in America--unions and businessmen and public officials at every level-- will ask the same question of their endeavors, and subject their actions to the same exacting tests.

The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association
President John F. Kennedy
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
New York City, April 27, 1961